Sawada Shin's Day Off
by isolde.wagner
Summary: One man's struggle to take his mind off his homeroom teacher.
1. Prologue

**Title**: Sawada Shin's Day Off

**Summary:** One man's struggle to take his mind off his homeroom teacher.

**Rating**: T

**Disclaimer: **The usual blurb (i.e., Gokusen and its characters belong to Kozueko Morimoto; OHHC and its characters belong to Bisco Hatori, etc.).

**Spoiler warning:** The events are centered around Chapter 8/9 of vol. 7 of Gokusen.

**A/N** (01/07/2009): Still work in progress. Thanks for the encouragements! I think I have a better idea of how the story is going to pan out now. Also, I decided that I hated the original title, so I changed it :-D

* * *

**Prologue**

_Awww, fuck this shit. I'm so outta here. _Sawada Shin bailed on Class 2-4 as soon as math ended. After all the recent upheavals over the Nekomata affair, he reckoned he deserved a Mental Health Day.

Feeling uncharacteristically out of sorts, he aimlessly wandered through the streets of the Shirokin district. He still had a few hours to kill before his "date," courtesy of Kinoshita. Not that he had any particular interest in meeting this girl, who is Kinoshita's girlfriend's friend or cousin or whatnot. "But I hear she's really hot! And big boobs too!" Ucchi and the guys had been trying to persuade him all morning long. _There they go again, the oppai-obsessed morons, _Shin rolled his eyes. Don't get him wrong, he enjoyed the view of a magnificent pair much as the next guy. He, too, recognized that Fujiyama Sensei was unusually well-endowed; he even thought she carried them rather well. However, his appreciation for breasts ran much in the same grain that an architect might admire a sheet of high quality granite, say, or maybe how a gourmand might nod in approval of a well put-together table setting -- they're niceties, not necessities. So the other guys' fascination with breast sizes struck him as plebian; and their dedicated pursuits, a tiresome activity unworthy of his attention. He eventually agreed to this outing only because he needed a distraction. Any distraction. Something to stop the scenes from that Nekomata mess from replaying themselves in his mind for the umpteenth time.

_Who the hell is Shinohara and what is he to Yamaguchi? _This was the question that he unconsciously returned to time and again. _Why the fuck do I even care? _He frowned at himself. It didn't bother him that he got beaten black and blue all over, or that in the end, he didn't manage to save her all by himself. Ok, truth be told, that bit did sting his pride a little, but he was not so arrogant a fool as to muck with serious yazuka skirmishes. He jumped into the fray because he had no choice -- someone's life was on the line. And he had never felt more grateful than when he saw the arrival of reinforcements from the Kuroda clan. Compared what might have happened, everything concluded well enough. That everyone was still alive deserved lavish offerings to the Buddha himself. Afterward, Kyo-san and the rest of the clan bowed to him profusely; even Yamaguchi sought him out to thank him properly.

But the memory of Shinohara sauntering onto the scene to carry off the distressed damsel only after everything had been cleared made his blood boil all over again. _Besides, she doesn't even remember anything from that day_. He was in turns irked by the intrusion of this new thought; then ashamed at his childish petulance (_the woman was running a high fever after all_); and finally surprised by a realization: that every moment of their extracurricular time together had been indelibly etched in his mind.

_Now I am the laughable one!_


	2. Paradiso

**Title**: Sawada Shin's Day Off

**Summary:** One man's struggle to take his mind off his homeroom teacher.

**Rating**: T

**Disclaimer: **The usual blurb (i.e., Gokusen and its characters belong to Kozueko Morimoto; OHHC and its characters belong to Bisco Hatori).

**Spoiler warning:** The events are centered around Chapter 9 of vol. 7 of Gokusen.

**A/N**: Work in progress.

* * *

**Paradiso**

Sawada Shin's date came in the form of a bubbly sixteen year old girl named Hiromi. While she didn't turn out to be the sexy vixen that Ucchi fantasized, Shin understood that she was what people conventionally referred to as the _kawaii _type. "She likes ikebana and chanoyu," was the full extent of Kinoshita's introduction. _Flower arrangement? Tea ceremony? You've gotta be shitting me, _he silently cursed Kinoshita to a thousand years of bachelorhood.

The course of the date faithfully followed the time-honored scripts of shoujo materials. They strolled through all the requisite trendy shops in town, and Shin somehow got cajoled out of 3000 yen for some trinkets Hiromi wanted; they spent some time at an arcade and had their commemorative pictures taken at the photo booth. He went with her lead docilely, voicing no objection over the itinerary she prepared. It wasn't a roaring good time (_like sleep-walking, except that I'm wide awake_, he thought), but he felt more like his old self, of the pre-Yamaguchi vintage.

"Oh! Oh! Let's go there next!" Hiromi pulled him toward a building with an ornate sign that read Caffe Paradiso. "My friends say they have the best tiramisu!"

"Isn't this place amazing?" She squealed. "Don't you agree? French cafes are the best!"

_Except that this place is clearly trying to be Italian, you dolt, _Shin flashed a contemptuous grimace, but Hiromi was too busy gushing over the cherub-studded fountain to notice.

"From what they charge, you'd think they could afford a few more lamps," he muttered to himself.

"Aww, no no, I think the lighting in here is perfect!" She giggled. "It's very ro-man-tic," she said emphatically, taking this opportunity to scoot her chair even closer to his.

"My friends will be soooo shocked to see us like this! Ha ha! They think you look like MatsuJun, you know, the actor from Hana Yori Dango? It would be sooooo funny if the paparazzis mistook you for him, right? I read a story like that in a manga just the other day! Hee hee!"

_A shoujo otaku on top of Ikebana and chanosu? She's a little scary! _Shin poked at the artfully presented pastry with his fork. _The distraction strategy was a stupid idea after all. My wallet is already done for, and I'm not sure how much more of her blatherings I can take... _Through the window, he idly scanning the busy street scene outside. A slender figure in pigtails suddenly snapped into focus; she was holding hands with a man. _Yamaguchi!? _A sudden bolt of energy jolted his body, and the uneasy restlessness he felt earlier returned in a flash.

_Eh? No. False alarm. It's just a 'tween and her father. _He slumped back into his chair. _Moron, what were you expecting? Even if it were her, what's it to you? Besides, it's not like you can abandon this ridiculous date in the middle. _It was a point of pride for Sawada Shin -- once he started something, he never failed to follow through.

"... and the song was like, so amazingly moving, y'know? The first time I heard it, I totally cried, and ..."

Shin drifted in and out of Hiromi's chatter. Discreetly, he checked the time. _Damn, has it really only been 10 minutes? No choice but to sit here for a while longer then. _In fact, he was surprised to discover that the entire duration of the date had not past the 30 minute mark. When he was on one of the stake outs with Yamaguchi, hours passed by in the blink of an eye. He chalked it up to "the excitement of being on an interesting Yazuka mission," but if he were honest with himself, he would have to acknowledge that time always slipped away quickly when he was next to her, whether it was a conference on the school rooftop or at that dopey school festival or just everyday class time.

"... from Dior, and it's maybe too revealing! I don't wanna wear it in public, but if you..."

_If this were a date with Yamaguchi, where would we go? _The idle thought crept in to his mind from nowhere, and it embarrassed him.

"You're blushing! That's so cute, Sawada-kun!"

_Shit. Must. Get. Away. Now!_

"Oi, whadaya say we blow this joint." Shin was so relieved to have escaped the claustrophobia-inducing Caffe Paradiso that he hardly noticed that he had descended with Hiromi right into the den of Madame Hades, Fortune-Teller of Love.


	3. Purgatorio

**Title**: Sawada Shin's Day Off

**Summary:** One man's struggle to take his mind off his homeroom teacher.

**Rating**: T

**Disclaimer: **The usual blurb (i.e., Gokusen and its characters belong to Kozueko Morimoto; OHHC and its characters belong to Bisco Hatori).

**Spoiler warning:** The events are centered around Chapter 8/9 of vol. 7 of Gokusen.

**A/N**: Work in progress. Although I prefer to stay within the mangaverse, I did make one switcheroo based on the drama series -- Fujiyama teaches English here.

* * *

**Purgatorio **

In the popular imagination, Hell has been firmly established as a scorching, frightful place. Everyone, from Dante Alighieri and Hieronymus Bosch to Neil Gaiman, portrayed it in fiery flame reds and cruel coal blacks. For the rest of his life, however, Sawada Shin would always associate the word "Hell" with a certain dank cellar draped in purples and grays.

"... the candle at midnight and Youko-chan swore she saw the face of her boyfriend, just like Hatashi-sama predicted!" Hiromi was still hashing through a litany of the fortune-teller's purported feats when they arrived at the so-called "parlor of love", but Shin had stopped listening long ago. For a while, his gaze was fixed on a figure in a red tracksuit and a white cap that jogged past them, though he eventually concluded that it was just an old man on his afternoon exercise circuit. _This is like the third false alarm today! _He was beginning to question his sanity. _Get a grip of yourself. Purge those useless thoughts! That's the goal of this outing, remember?  
_

Returning to the here and now, Shin surveyed the entrance to the fortune teller's place. The space had a faux-goth feel to it. Ivy leaves grew rampant along the wall. A weather ravaged carpet led the way to a wooden door flanked by two ceramic gnomes standing guard. The door featured a poster of a woman in Gypsy garb, mulling over Tarot cards. A column of Japanese characters in calligraphic strokes danced down the right side of the poster: "Hatashi-sama, descendant of a Hungarian Countess, possesses extraordinary mystical powers. Ye seeker of love and truth, cross this threshold to obtain answers to the deepest yearnings of your heart!" Unnecessarily, there was also a halo of glittering English letters encircling the Gypsy's scarved head: "Madame Hades, very heavy Countess of Hungry children, seeks to answer doors for have your hearts!"

"Pffff," Shin snickered. _Hatashi got transliterated to Hades!? For the name of a *love* fortune-teller? Because Hades and Persephone are just such love birds, riiiiight._ Hiromi studied the poster again, unable to identify what might have so amused her date, who remained imperturbable all afternoon despite her best efforts to engage him in conversations.

"The English," Shin pointed. "Even a friggin' computer translator has to spit out something more sensible."

"Ooh, I see. Though English isn't my best subject... I hope it won't sink my college entrance exam," Hiromi demurred. "Sawada-kun seems to be very good at English! Maybe you can tutor me sometime."

_I bet your Greek mythology ain't too hot either. _Shin thought it a sad commentary on their educational system that despite years of rigorous training, covering so many arcane grammatical factoids, the English curriculum failed to arm its students to parse a short advertisement jingo. _So annoying! Everyone makes such a fuss over acing the college entrance exam. Big fucking deal! If you're a dumbass before, you'd just be a college-grade dumbass afterward. _He pitied the poor saps (like his own brother) who buried their days and nights in college prep. He had no interests in pursuing the Monkasho's lame "seal of approval."

_Too bad there was no one to witness the greatness of this absurdity. _He took a snapshot of the poster with his camera-phone for posterity, though it wasn't clear with whom he could share it. Not Kuma and the guys - though endearing in their unique ways, they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Fujiyama, the English teacher, seemed like the obvious candidate, but Shin suspected there wasn't a single ironic bone in that curvaceous earth-mother. As for his real mother, well, he had long ago stopped divulging any scrap of genuine thoughts or feelings to anyone in his boring, uptight family. And so, his mind circled back to Yamaguchi. _Wonder if her English is any good? Maybe she'd talk like a New York mobster?_

He felt like a schmuck for expending so much of his waking thoughts on her. (He did not dare to contemplate to what extent was his subconsciousness also preoccupied with her.) The trouble was, without him noticing, her role in his world had already expanded beyond Yamaguchi-sensei, the earnest hard-working math instructor; beyond Yankumi, their tough-love homeroom teacher, who was not afraid to take one for the boys; beyond the Kuroda Ojou, the much adulated and feared Yazuka heiress. She was the only person he knew who had the same sarcastic sense of humor and a healthy skepticism toward social conventions, the only one who'd laugh at the world's follies with him.

_Crap. No. I can't possibly be falling for...!? Fuck, fuck, fuckidy-fuck! _Recalling those American cartoons, in which one could step off a cliff and still walk blithely on air, defying the laws of gravity until a fatal glance downward, Sawada Shin regretted he just looked down.


	4. Inferno1a

**Title**: Sawada Shin's Day Off

**Summary:** One man's struggle to take his mind off his homeroom teacher.

**Rating**: T

**Disclaimer: **The usual blurb (i.e., Gokusen and its characters belong to Kozueko Morimoto; OHHC and its characters belong to Bisco Hatori, etc.).

**Spoiler warning:** The events are centered around Chapter 8/9 of vol. 7 of Gokusen.

**A/N**: Work in progress. In this and the next couple of chapters, I'm borrowing a supporting character from Ouran High School Host Club for a cameo appearance; no full-on cross-over is planned for now.

* * *

**Inferno**

1. The virtuous pagan

"Irashaimase!" The greeter at Madam Hades's Parlor of Love welcomed the entering customers. "O-hime-sama and her gallant escort, please follow me this way." _Sheesh, another energetic girl; what are they putting in the water these days? _Shin also thought that there was something vaguely familiar about the greeter, but he wasn't quite certain, partly because the lighting was dim (Hiromi sure seemed to love dark places!) and partly because she was wearing a hooded cloak. _Meh, whatever. _He shrugged and descended behind the women.

"If you could please complete this form about your relationship histories, Hatashi-sama will be with you shortly." The young woman led them into a busy waiting room and handed them each a clipboard.

"Oi. I don't remember entering a hospital! Isn't she a fricking fortune teller? Why doesn't she just 'look into my past' or read my tea leaves or whatever? This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" Shin ignored Hiromi's jabbing elbow. The afternoon had been such a drag so far that even the prospect of annoying the ever-supplicant Hiromi seemed like an improvement.

"You are right, sir, Hatashi-sama is clairvoyant and can reach into the recess of your past herself," the greeter responded politely. "However, a full reading takes a great deal of energy and time to prepare; and a powerful enchantress, such as Hatashi-sama herself, is very much in demand, as you can see. Some preliminary information from her guests would help her focus her mana and be more efficient in her consultations. Of course, if you would prefer to arrange for a special _deluxe _private session, Hatashi-sama would be perfectly delighted to perform the divination rites on you."

"......" Short of an apt zinger to return, Shin accepted his defeat and the clipboard.

"When she is ready to receive you, you will consult with Hatashi-sama individually. Rest assured that your information shall remain confidential. So please do not feel inhibited!" The greeter bowed courteously once more and left.

Shin already hated this place. He looked around for somewhere to sit down. The room was teemed with teenage girls in trios or quartets, all engaging in murmured chatters with occasional outbursts of "kyaaaa!"

_Oh fuck. Am I the only jackass who got dragged to this rip-off?_ Shin was swearing at himself when he noticed something odd. At the furthest corner of the room, a young man sat alone. Although the crowded room left many people standing, there were empty chairs all around him. Everyone seemed to take pains to pretend that he was not there.

Shin started to walk toward the seats.

"Sawada-kun, let's not go sit there," Hiromi pulled on his arm.

"Eh? Why not?"

"That guy," she whispered, "he looks mean and dangerous. Maybe he's a delinquent!"

_Him? Not fucking likely. _The duality of this situation mildly amused Shin. Viewed from behind, the two of them might have been perceived as twins: both were tall, lean, and crowned with a crazy mop of red hair. Viewed from the front, too, they shared the same curse: an unforgettable face that brought them opposite but equally undesirable fates. Just as Shin's handsome features had garnered him an endless stream of unwanted female attentions, his twin's intimidating expressions froze the faint-of-hearts with terror. Shin did not recognize the guy's uniform as one from any of the nearby high schools; he could tell, however, from the way his tailored blue blazer draped and gave off a muted sheen as only cashmere could, that he went to an exclusive private academy. _Those kinds of schools run serious background checks during admissions; no way he can be a delinquent._

"You are on a date with a guy from Shirokin, the infamous Delinquent High, remember?"

"That... That's different!"

"Don't go judging people by the way they look. You wouldn't like it either if a guy took one glance at you and thought you could polish off a whole tiramisu log in 10 minutes." _Ok, even if she was annoying and prejudiced, that was a cheap shot. _Shin felt a twinge of guilt. _If Yankumi were here, she'd give me an earful about not exploiting young women's weight anxieties. _He thought. _Oh great. I've internalized her sermons. _Yet, at the same time, because Hiromi finally clammed up, he couldn't help feeling also a little gleeful with the success of his retaliation. After all, hadn't he suffered her company enough this afternoon? Almost to further provoke Hiromi, Shin sat down next to his scary twin.

"Oi. Got a pen I can borrow?"


	5. Inferno1b

**Title**: Sawada Shin's Day Off

**Summary:** One man's struggle to take his mind off his homeroom teacher.

**Rating**: T

**Disclaimer: **The usual blurb (i.e., Gokusen and its characters belong to Kozueko Morimoto; OHHC and its characters belong to Bisco Hatori).

**Spoiler warning:** The main events are centered around Chapter 8/9 of vol. 7 of Gokusen. Parallel Ouran High-School Host Club timeline is pegged to be some point around ep 23.

**A/N**: Work in progress. This is a continuation of the previous chapter, "the Virtuous Pagan." Still trying to get a grip on BossaNova-kun...

* * *

"Oh, there's Rei-chan! I'm going to go say hi. Please excuse me." Hiromi took the first opportunity to distance herself from the criminal looking youth. _He's way worse than the usual losers that clung to Sawada-kun! _She thought with some distaste. She made a mental note to not forget to ask Hatashi-sama for ways of freeing him from the influences of those negative energies.

"I... didn't mean to scare your girlfriend away," the stranger sounded awkward, but not malicious. "This happens around me a lot."

"Huh? Oh, her? She's not my girlfriend," Shin quickly assured his companion. "It's a blind date that hadn't gone well. She's just sore with me. Sorry about the misunderstanding. I'm Sawada Shin of Shirokin High School, by the way. You're not from 'round here, are you?"

"Hrnh... I am Kasanoda Ritsu of Ouran High School. I, uh, nice to meet you," the young man was ill-at-ease with performing even the most basic greetings.

Shin had heard of Ouran, a private academy well-known for the prestige and wealth of its students' families as well as its academic rigour. Shin recalled that his brother's application to Ouran was turned down. Whether it was because his scores were not high enough or because the Sawada name did not carry enough weight, Shin didn't pay attention. The limited impression Shin gleaned from his brother's glossy brochures was that these were people of a different planet, obeying different laws of physics. They were suave, beautiful, perfectly rich bastards. Yet, the man sitting beside him appeared so ungainly, so unattractive, so... lacking. This made him a misfit, an oddity, and therefore potentially interesting.

"I'm here accompanying my father on business," Kasanoda explained. "He wanted me to meet some of his, uh, associates... because he's training me to take over his work one day."

_Young scion, helping with dad's business. Sounds ordinary enough._ But Shin intuited the possibility of something more to uncover. _A face like that would be a liability in just about any normal businesses; presumably, his family is wealthy enough to invest in some extreme make-overs. Unless... his fearsome features are a boon to the family business? Like, the yazuka!? _Shin felt his logic was unassailable. _And in this part of town, yazuka business meant dealings with the Kurodas!_

"I guess even on a business trip, you'd need some downtime. There are some fun places around too. But how d'you end up _here_?"

"Hrnnhh. I just, uh, was passing by and saw the sign..." Kasanoda's ears turned the same color as his hair. "I, uh..." After some internal struggle, he spoke deliberately. "Sawada-san, even though we've just met, I feel that I can trust you as I would my sworn brothers. No stranger has ever strike up a casual conversation with me so freely and without fear as you did. I can tell that you're someone who inspires followers through admiration instead of trepidation. So you might not be able to imagine how miserable a lifetime of solitude can be. Everyone around me acted so damn _scared _all the time; it pissed me off, which really didn't improve the situation."

Shin observed dryly that, once gotten over his shyness, Kasanoda orated in paragraphs.

"But then, I met _her_!" By now, Kasanoda's hair was the lightest shade of red of his entire head. "It's like Beauty and the Beast out of the fairy tales. In her quiet way, she just understands and accepts me and looks past my appearance." He was warming up to the subject. "How can I begin to describe how I feel? Basking in the gaze of her large gentle eyes is like welcoming Spring after fifteen years of blizzards. Everything about her is all soft and warm and refreshing, like an April breeze, or a green meadow, or a..."

"Oi, oi! Slow down there with them similes," Shin was afraid that, if unstopped, the man might break into songs. Plus, he was getting goose-bumps from the incongruity that resulted from the battle between Kasanoda's beatific reverie about love and his innate demonic scowl vying for control over his facial muscles. "And you call yourself an yazuka heir!"

"What? How can you tell?" Kasanoda was shocked.

"You speak like you just walked out of a yazuka movie," _like someone else I know._ The thought of that someone did not fail to draw the corner of his mouth into a wry smile. "But never mind that. So you like this girl who is sugar and spice and everything nice. What's the hold up?"

"Well, she's goes to my school, but she has to hide her identity from everyone because of some special circumstances. I don't want to add to her already complicated situation, but I just can't get her out of my mind. So when I saw Hatashi-sama's poster, I thought it must be a sign from Heaven..."

_No, just good marketing, _Shin simply could not fathom how superstition held sway to people who seemed otherwise rational. "Have you told her how you feel yet?"

"Well... No." Kasanoda glumly studied his shoes. "She's surrounded by all these pretty boys from the host club all the time. Plus, her situation is already so complicated. And I am from a yazuka family, and..."

"Excuses! They're all lame-ass excuses, and you know it!" Shin interrupted sternly. "Do you love this girl or not? This is not something that some gypsy charlatan or I or anyone else can divine. Only you can answer it truthfully. If you do, you should give it an earnest shot, and then at least you'd find out how she feels one way or another. Isn't that better than wavering in indecision?"

Kasanoda was taken aback. No one had ever lectured him so bluntly, not even his father. There's the first time for everything.

"Young master! Preparations for Tanukibara's nidaime succession ceremony are underway. The kumichou has requested your presence." A messanger came for Kasanoda.

"Ah. Thanks, Tetsuya. I'll be there shortly." Turning toward Shin, Kasanoda bowed deeply. "Aneki, you are wise beyond your years. I shall follow your sound advice. But, I was wondering, what is your experience in the matters of the heart?"

Shin sighed. "There's someone at my school; she has to hide her identity from everyone because of some special circumstances..."


	6. Inferno2

**Title**: Sawada Shin's Day Off

**Summary:** One man's struggle to take his mind off his homeroom teacher.

**Rating**: T

**Disclaimer: **The usual blurb (i.e., Gokusen and its characters belong to Kozueko Morimoto; OHHC and its characters belong to Bisco Hatori, etc.).

**Spoiler warning:** The events are centered around Chapter 8/9 of vol. 7 of Gokusen. I'm making use of two minor characters from Chapter 10 of vol. 4. The story also references a minor plot line in Chapter 35 of Ouran High School Host Club.

**A/N**: Work in progress.

* * *

2. The Wantons

With Kasanoda gone, and Hiromi still away chatting with her friends, Shin had at last found some solace in his solitude. Idly, he glanced down at the pristine form attached to his clipboard. He toyed with answering a few to pass time, but the questions were all too predictably inane -- Describe your past relationship (if any); How did you meet? How long did it last? What kind of guys (girls) are you into? Describe a perfect night out; etc.

_This makes that quack fortune teller's job way too easy_. He considered strategies of completing the form to maximally annoy "Madame Hades," but he quickly dismissed it as childish. Bored, he picked up the thick stack of densely filled out papers that Kasanoda had left behind. Without reading a word, Shin could well imagine the content therein. _It's probably one giant hyperbole fest, all flowers and stars, angels dancing and birds singing;_ he thought with amusement and nausea in equal measures. _That poor sap has got it bad._

_**You are a hypocrite,**_ a stern internal voice accused him. He hated that voice, which always sounded too much like his father and tended to pop up under the most unwelcoming circumstances. _**At least he is facing his feelings honestly, which is more than what we could say about you.**_

_Leave me alone already. Don't just randomly speak up uninvited; it's rude, you know._

_**The relationship between one's ego and super-ego transcends politeness, **_the voice retorted archly._** And don't change the subject. **_

_OK, look, I'll admit it, she's important to me, but that doesn't mean I want to live in a cottage for two by the seaside with her. Besides, I don't even find her physically attractive. My situation is completely different from that Casanova's._

_**Ohh? Is that so?**_ Shin's fear of a prolonged internal dialog, however, did not materialize.

"Sawada-san, the Madame is ready to see you." The chipper greeter girl interrupted his thoughts. She took Kasanoda's clipboard from him. "Oh, I see you did have quite a lot to share! How refreshing for a young man!"

Shin grimaced a little, but didn't bother to correct her mistake and just followed her without another word.

* * *

The Madame's parlor was a heavily perfumed small room, draped to an inch of its life in varying shades of purple. A prematurely wrinkled woman sat a top piles of cushions; her eyes half closed. Heavy damask curtains gently swayed behind her.

"Eh!?!" As his eyes slowly adjusted to the candle light, Shin was shocked that he recognize the woman. It was "Alice-chan ," the hostess who still brought nightmares to his dreams. _Could the cloaked girl in the front desk be Toshiko-chan?_ He wondered what sort of land mine he stepped on this time.

"So we meet again, Young Master Red Lion, or should I say, Young Master Kasanoda?" she spitted out the words between a menacing half smile. "So the rumor of 'the yondaime union of the century' is true."

"No, you've got me mixed up with someone else," Shin said cautiously, trying to back away. "I am just Sawada Shin, a high school student from Shirokin. I was just dragged here by my date. I don't have any business with any _yondaime_ or whatnot. I will be taking my leave now. If you'll excuse me..." To his terror, Shin found his legs giving out from underneath him. The fragrance in the room oppressed his breathing. He found himself breaking out in cold sweat.

"I'm afraid that is quite out of the question. You see, I am a member of the Sendo kumi, and as your sworn enemy, there is no way that I can let the Kasanoda family form an alliance with the Kuroda family. I will break your omiai with Kumiko Yamaguchi by any means possible. So I'll have to ask you to sleep for a bit," she laughed her little sinnister. "But you don't have to fear for your life. You're a real cutie, so I'm sure we'll have some fun together."

_An omiai for Yamaguchi and BossaNova?!? So... drowsy. Can't... fight... it... offff..._

* * *

It was night time. Dark clouds loomed heavily overhead, not permitting a ray of moon light to penetrate through. A bitter wind howled and kicked up the sands on the beach. Soon, it would rain.

_Where am I?_ Shin felt disoriented. The surrounding looked vaguely familiar, but it was not Shirokin. _Isn't this_… _Okinawa? _He recognized the place to be the beach where he and Yamaguchi had searched for Ucchi on the recent school trip.

_Oi, oi! This is no time for a dream sequence! Just now, wasn't there something important, something dangerous happening? _He sank down onto the beach, burying his head in his arms._ Ugh. Why can't I remember? It had something to do with…_

_Kumiko? _Suddenly, a specter of a woman appeared before him. Her long black hair and her billowing white kimono fluttered wildly in the strong wind as she floated over the water, receding into the horizon. He couldn't see her face clearly, but he knew, in the way we all just know things instinctively in dreams, that it was her.

_Wait!_ He chased after her, but as if under a curse, he was moving in slow motion. The sands beneath were like a thousand hands clinging onto his legs. The gale-grade wind was tackling him head on, resisting his determined pushes forward. And right on cue, a flood poured down from the sky. _Even in dreams, she exhausts me_, he muttered.

Nonetheless, he was making progress. The specter appeared to be closer now, and he could distinctly make out her features. She looked different from the everyday Yamaguchi. Ethereally pale and delicate, she seemed like a classically idealized painting of the real thing. In the rain, her drenched robe clung to her slender frame, exposing perhaps more flesh than what is considered decent. He was reminded of that other night when she dived into the ocean. That time, he had to surrender his jacket to her so as to avoid the temptation of leering at her and the consequence of getting beaten up into a bloody pulp. Unlike in real life, though, the apparition was neither embarrassed nor angry. She seemed oblivious to his presence and his hungry stares. Unable to stop himself, he reached out toward her. Just as his arms were about to clasp around her waist, the apparition and the world around him all just vanished.

He stumbled forward and fell to the floor. When he looked up, he was once again in that hated warehouse where Kudou kept them captive. Next to him, he spotted her lying in a heap in her usual red tracksuit. Tentatively, he touched her shoulder, uncertain whether this scene would also disappear.

It did not.

He was surprised by how warm she felt. He did not think dreams could be so realistic. Although unconscious, she resembled more of the real Yankumi than the ethereal apparition just now. _What should I do now? Lug her outside, where her Shinohara-sensei awaits?_ _No_, he decided. _If he wants her, he'd have to come in and find her for himself__._

Gently, he held her with one arm, and with his other hand, he caressed her cheeks to clear away stray strands of her hair. Looking at her face, he felt strangely calm and content, even though he knew it was just a dream that he couldn't rouse himself out of.

Her lips quivered, and he had an uncontrollable urge to cover them with his own. But even as he bent down toward her, the scene was already disintegrating. He thought he heard her whispering a name:

_Kasanoda. _


End file.
